A few minutes after leaving the guild master's office.
Lena slowly left the guild's building. She decided to enjoy a nice lunch after taking a little walk.
During her walk Lena gave a slight gaze at Trestina whos was in the shopping district but she had some other people alongside her which made Lena keep her distance. Trying to walk away without alerting her Lena hastens her steps only to fail miserably.
"OIII LENA!" trestina shouted as if it's normal.
Lena bright red immediately stops turns around and shushes her.
trestina comes over with 2 of her other what seemed to be like female friends.
"Ohh trestina you didn't tell us about your boyfriend..." one of the girl says looking at Lena.
"boyfriend?" trestina tilts her head confused.
"boyfriend..." Lena took the words terribly.
"Haha no no she's a friend of mine. She is an adventurer you know I'm surprised you haven't heard about her." trestina denies their claims.
"Oooh she's an adventurer huh... that does mix in with her looks well." the other girl says while looking lena up and down.
Lena pulls at the back of trestina's.
"oh right, uhm... this is Lena she is an adventurer who just recently reached the first rank of gold the normal carving." trestina said and then towards the others to introduce them.
"those 2 are uolya and quoka. They work in the adventurer's guild but the information division so it's mostly studying reports papers and news that could be related to monsters and stuff." trestina said while pointing at each individually while calling their names.
"And here I thought you finally nailed the dumb rich adventurer you always wanted" uolya said with a disappointed tone.
"Hahaha! Aren't you funny." trestina said concerned about lena's impression on her.
Lena finally spoke and asked "uhh... why did you call for me trestina?" she said almost hesitantly.
"Oh right, wait give me a minute." trestina said as she creeped in with uolya and quoka.
they spoke quietly for a bit then spread back out.
"oh right we have to leave, work and stuff you know hahaha! See you later!" quoka said while scratching the back of her head. Then she left with uolya who just gave a quite wave with a smile.
Trestina just had a huge look of disappointment.
"Anyway Lena I can't believe you did that." trestina said almost pouting.
"Did what?"
"You know going after a dragon with warning me at all!"
"It was a child dragon so it was all okay." Lena said
"You didn't know that! Plus even then! A child dragon might not be as dangerous but it's still dangerous nonetheless!" Trestina said as her expression slowly shifted into one of slight anger.
"Trestina, I'm an adventurer, This is what I'm supposed to be doing. Plus I came back right?" Lena said with a slightly annoyed voice.
"That doesn't mean you just jump right into your own death! What if that wasn't a child Lena? What then? The only person In this kingdom who could take a fully adult dragon out on his own is Junas and he is leagues above all the other adventurer's in the kingdom!" Trestina said throwing her hands around almost shouting in the middle of town.
Lena doesn't say anything. How could she argue after just listening to how she played right into the guild master's hand.
'That whole thing was a staged suicide that No one was dumb enough to take but me' Lena thought.
Trestina calmed down as she looked at Lena's face which was obviously down.
"All I'm saying is please think more about what you're doing, I'm sure at least one person out there is waiting for you Lena you shouldn't just throw your life away for "adventuring" I know how fucked this world can be, but still it doesn't mean you completely stop your brain and throw yourself into death." trestina said while having one hand cover the top of her face.
"Like you finally decide to open up to me and the next thing I know is your out there trying to kill yourself, I wanna know more about you Lena I want us to get to be better friends just next time whatever it is you're doing just please try to at least inquire about it with me"
Lena nodded slowly.
Trestina just sighs, she was expecting Lena to argue back but instead she just fell silent which made her calm down.
They both stand there awkwardly for a bit then Trestina asks Lena to help her finish the rest of her shopping.
"What are you looking for anyway?" Lena asked.
"Ah nothing in particular really just something that looks good I guess." trestina said as she looked around the store.
"How about this?" Lena said as she lifted up a normal plain green dress.
Trestina just gave her a look of pity and turned away. Lena decided not to give anymore suggestions.
"Why did you tell your other friends to leave then?"
"Well I thought it would take a lot more than that to convince you but you sure didn't argue much." trestina said as she continued looking around.
"Oh Lena what do you think of this on you?" Trestina said as she pointed at a set of cloth that scared Lena.
It was a fine dress That looked quite expensive and well done. To Lena who had always worn the same cloth as a child and only really had a chance to change them for 2 years it felt unfamiliar.
"It's pretty don't you think?" trestina said as she held it around Lena.
"I don't know, it doesn't feel right to me..." Lena said nervously.
"Look now all you have to do is remove that band and put your hair down! It looks perfect with your brown hair!" Trestina said with sparkling eyes.
"Still I don't really think its my type of wear really..." Lena said trying to get away from it.
Trestina ignores her escapes and asks the store owner where she could try it out.
Lena was basically forced into the dress and made to look exactly as Trestina imagined.
"Oh My God... You look amazing lena *sniff*" trestina said while tearing up.
"W-Why are you crying..." Lena said worried.
"I just didn't expect you to finally look like an actual woman." trestina said while covering her nose and mouth as if she is about to breakdown.
Lena's worried face turns into an immediate neutral expression as she turned around to change back into her normal cloth a plain shirt with normal pants, but as she turned back Trestina grabbed onto her.
"NO PLEASE LENA RECONSIDER! PLEASE GET IT LENA IT LOOKS TOO GOOD ON YOU TO LEAVE IT! FRICK IT I WILL EVEN BUY IT FOR YOU LENA JUST PLEASE TAKE IT!" Trestina tried her hardest to convince Lena which at the end made her give in.
Lena bought it and Left the store with trestina even though trestina didn't get anything.
"You know Lena what's surprising is that it somehow fit you. Like someone out there made that dress specifically for a woman as tall as you." Trestina said which made Lena slouch a bit.
"I'm not that tall." Lena said with her now slouched back.
"You got to start taking in it Lena. Just turn it into your own charm you know? Like look at us, if I were to hug you I would be hugging your non-existent breasts!" Trestina said.
Which made Lena understand trestina hasn't fully forgiven her yet.
"Oh You know any place we could have lunch at Lena?" Trestina asked.
"I guess I know one." Lena said as she guided Trestina to the toto's family place.
It was surprisingly crowded.
"Huh usually it's pretty empty." Lena said surprised.
"Oh there are seats there let's go" Trestina said as she pulled Lena's hand.
They sat down in the loud and crowded victualling house.
They waited for a bit while looking at the paper menu in front of them. and then the little girl finally approached their table.
"Hello, what would you like to have today?" toto sayed with her head barely reaching above the table while holding a tray to her chest.
"Oh Lena would you look at how adorable this little girl is." Trestina said as she suppressed her urges to jump at the girl.
"I know right!" Lena fully agreed with trestina.
"ahahaha...!" toto awkwardly laughed as she started fidgeting.
"a-anyway, please tell me your order." Toto said as she straightened her pose.
Lena and trestina each ordered something and waited patiently.
"By the way Lena. I've read many of your adventure reports and I thought of something. Do you not use any kind of magic? Like your physical prowess is something, but still do you not use any magic at all?" Trestina asked wanting to make small talk as they wait for their food.
"Well I do know one spell but it doesn't come in handy that much." Lena said.
"Oh? and what is it?"
"Ah it ain't anything special just your usual strengthening magic" Lena said keeping a little of the truth to herself.
"Oh, that would make sense with your style, and what about healing magic?" trestina asked.
"Come on now, even you know I would never be able to do that or would I give in the time for it, but I do know a little about first aid and medicine." Lena said.
"Yeah I guess that's true, but you never know right, and Oh really now? where did you learn it?" trestina said.
"A guy I used to be with taught me it to get me off his back." Lena said.
"An ex, and he sounds like he was a dick too. *tsk*" Trestina said remembering a bit of her own past.
Lena wanted to ask what an "ex" is but decided not to inquire afraid of a long tangent by trestina.
"Have you ever thought about learning more magic though?" trestina says leaving her past behind.
"Did think about it, but never really followed through with it." Lena said.
"You know nowadays adventurer do tend to relay more on magic except those higher in ranking, learning a bit won't hurt you so might as well give it a go." trestina suggested.
"Sure will work on it." Lena said.
"Oh yeah also according to your report your original sword broke right? I'm surprised it even made it that far it did look very plain." trestina said.
"It was the best to grow stronger you know. If the sword isn't that well crafted then all you have to do is relay more on your tactic and strength which I was planning on strengthening in the first place."
"Oh I guess that makes sense in a way, but still isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"Trestina, I agreed with you that going after the dragon was dumb, but that doesn't mean I regret it. I learned from that and that is what I want." Lena said with a serious look.
"What? what do you mean?" trestina immediately turns to Lena.
"I thought you would've noticed by now, but if you didn't let's just leave it at that." Lena said as she faced towards toto who was arriving with their food.
"Aaaand here you go. Please enjoy!" toto said with a smile as she ran back into the kitchen.
Lena immediately started eating.
Trestina followed her example.
'oh this is good' trestina thought to herself.